Historically, in virtually all developed economies there seems to be clear evidence of an inverse relationship between female labor supply and fertility. However, particularly in the last decade or so, the rela-tionship across countries has been positive: for example countries like Germany, Italy and Spain with the lowest fertility rates also have the lowest female participation rates. We accep...

In cross-sectional studies, countries with greater income inequality typically exhibit less support for government-led redistribution and greater acceptance of wage inequality (e.g., United States versus Western Europe). If individual nations evolve along this pattern, a vicious cycle could form with reduced social concern amplifying primal increases in inequality due to forces like skill-biase...

In-Work Benefits for Married Couples: An Ex-Ante Evaluation of EITC and WTC Policies in Italy This paper investigates labor supply and redistributive effects of in-work benefits for Italian married couples using a tax-benefit microsimulation model and a multi-sectoral discrete choice model of labor supply. We consider two in-work benefit schemes following the key principles of the Earned Income...

A growing body of evidence shows that social programs, beyond their direct e ect on bene ciaries, can also a ect non bene ciaries, via changes in market equilibrium. We still know very little, however, about the e ects of social programs on labor markets. In particular, public employment schemes, which are a popular form of poverty relief in developing countries, may crowd out private sector wo...

Despite increasingly large scale social protection programmes in Africa, we have limited evidence on the political economy processes involved. We investigate community-based processes for food aid allocation and the role of political and social networks, using the case of Ethiopia in the aftermath of a serious drought. Local political authorities are in charge of food transfers, in terms of fre...

Historically, in virtually all developed economies there seems to be clear evidence of an inverse relationship between female labor supply and fertility. However, particularly in the last decade or so, the rela-tionship across countries has been positive: for example countries like Germany, Italy and Spain with the lowest fertility rates also have the lowest female participation rates. We accep...

The absorption of Cu(2+), Zn(2+), and Mn(2+) by leaf tissue of 4-month old sugarcane plants (Saccharum officinarum L., var. H53-263) has been investigated. After the "apparent free space" fraction was desorbed, the absorption of Cu(2+), Mn(2+), and Zn(2+) yielded a curve typical of many ion uptake processes when measured as a function of the external concentration. However, only 1 absorption me...

Back to the Future: Decomposition Analysis of Distributive Policies Using Behavioural Simulations For policy makers and analysts, it is important to isolate the redistributive impact of taxbenefit policy changes from changes in the environment in which policies operate. When actual reforms are motivated by work incentives, it is also crucial to evaluate behavioural responses and the distributio...

This paper provides evidence against the argument that the rich prevent the poor from obtaining public education in unequal developing democracies. In Brazilian municipalities with low median incomes, voters are significantly less likely to reelect incumbent candidates from parties that increased the number of local public primary schools during their terms. This is not true for municipalities ...

The eastern expansion of the EU resembles German unification in its momentousness. Whereas the latter led to a 26% increase in the population of the Federal Republic, the former will increase the population of the EU by 28% if all ten entry aspirants are accepted. A special problem will be posed by migration. In view of the existing wage differences between eastern and western European countrie...